Any number of containers, collectors and transporters for refuse such as garbage, leaves, grass clippings and the like have been suggested and commercialized in the past. These range from commercial units weighing hundreds of pounds and requiring special transport trucks, to widely marketed inexpensive consumer oriented products. The generally available commercial units typically prove to be unacceptable for household applications due to size and, more importantly, weight and cost considerations. Containers which are structurally sounds, versatile and convenient to use are generally cost ineffective for household type applications. Additionally, units designed for commercial application are often unsatisfactory for household use inasmuch as they are structurally complex and may be hazardous to an untrained user.
Refuse containers for noncommerical or household applications which are inexpensive and relatively easy to employ abound. However, such prior art containers often have a number of shortcomings. Many containers which have received consumer acceptance attribute success only to mass marketing such as through television and newspaper advertising rather than through engineering and design excellence. Such containers often are not well engineered and employ inferior or substandard materials. Additionally, such consumer oriented prior art containers are often intended for only a single light duty application such as collecting leaves and are totally unacceptable for others such as receiving relatively heavy grass clippings either from thatching or mowing the lawn. A consumer is often tempted to use the container for other nonintended applications, causing it to break outright or substantially lessen its useful life. Finally, single application containers often are not adjustable to accommodate disposable trash bags of varying dimensions and volumes.
Many refuse containers intended for home use, although inexpensive, are extremely difficult to use and result in a net loss of efficiency. For example, prior art frames for use in distending conventional disposable plastic garbage bags or the like are made up of a number of separate wire members which must be assembled and locked into position each time the container is to be used or repositioned. In addition to being awkward, such containers, by virtue of their many separate parts tend to be rendered useless through loss of one or more of the parts. Additionally, such devices can be hazardous inasmuch as the members are often pivotally mounted to one another and may have sharp edges resulting in finger catching "scissor-type" action as they are being deployed or disassembled.
An additional problem common to consumer type refuse containers is their lack of mobility both during and after collection of refuse. Prior art designs are often unstable unless they are staked into the ground. Such devices inherently require uprooting each time the user desires to move it from one location to another in the process of collecting refuse. This can be extremely difficult in applications such as raking leaves wherein relatively frequent repositioning of the container is required. An additional shortcoming of such a device is its stability in only a single orientation i.e. the collection, position, but not in the transporting position. This problem is particularly aggravated in situations when the container is full or nearly full of relatively heavy refuse. A related problem is that the bag is not fully supported in the transporting position and thus is susceptible to becoming detached from the frame or being ripped and thereby spilling the contents.
Finally, many prior art devices fail to provide versatility for the aged or physically infirm wherein the design allows the user to apply mechanical advantage thereto in repositioning it from the refuse collecting position to the transporting position. Most prior art devices require that the user bear the full weight of the container as well as its contents.
Representative of the best prior art are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,106,303 to Finocchiaro, 3,170,183 to Leatherman, 3,697,030 to Schultz, 3,934,803 to Paulus, Jr., and 4,006,928 to Beugin. The devices disclosed in these patents, although being useful in their specific intended applications, are chosen to collectively represent some of the above discussed shortcomings of the prior art as a whole.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,183 discloses a one piece dust pan and basket combination which is constructed of plastic to provide a sweeping kit which enables dirt or the like to be swept directly into a retention receptacle without the use of an additional dust pan. Two slots are provided in the receptacle which act as a hand grip for carrying the receptacle while in the dirt collecting position. The waste basket can be positioned upright for retaining refuse or tipped over on its side for receiving the dirt.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,934,803, 3,697,030 and 4,006,928 disclose frame-type refuse collectors which distend and coact with a collapsible garbage bag and permit sweeping of refuse directly into the mouth of the bag which is held open by the frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,303 disclose a collapsible cart for collecting relatively light and bulky refuse and allows transporting thereof through supportive wheels.